Illustrious Dubai Debut For Team Gelagotis

DUBAI, UAE—Saturday promises to be a uniquely exciting day for Peter and Manny Gelagotis, who for the first time will have Group 1 runners on two continents.

The brothers will be at Meydan to saddle Al Quoz Sprint contender Illustrious Lad (Aus) I Am Invincible {Aus}), their first major overseas representative. Closer to home, Levendi (Aus) (Pierro {Aus}) has made the shorter trip from Victoria to New South Wales to line up for the Tulloch S. at Rosehill before a possible follow up a week later in the G1 AJC Australian Derby.

The training licence is held in Peter's name but it is very much a family-run operation, with Manny overseeing business matters and acting as assistant trainer for the stable based primarily at Moe, two hours outside Melbourne, with a second facility at Cranbourne. Manny was thus dispatched to Dubai with Illustrious Lad and jockey Anthony Darmanin ten days in advance of the World Cup meeting, with Peter staying at home to train the 60 members of his team before joining his brother on Monday.

“Anthony came to do all the trackwork and so we've had far no issues with the horse whatsoever. He's presented himself in the manner of a horse who is going to run a big race,” says Manny after watching Illustrious Lad enjoy a swim on Wednesday morning. “It's been very enjoyable to train the horse here. The whole team at Meydan is so professional.”

It's not the first year that the Gelagotis yard has received an invitation to the meeting. In 2017, both Illustrious Lad and his Group 1-winning stablemate Malaguerra (Aus) (Magnus {Aus}) got the call up though neither ended up travelling.

Manny explains, “We considered coming last year but we thought that the timing wasn't right for both horses. We had it in our minds though and thought we'd do it properly this year and target it properly. We've come here totally focussed on this race. We're not here for a cup of tea and a holiday.”

Australian sprinters' dominance of world racing is nothing new and the 6-year-old gelding will face two compatriots—Faatinah (Aus) (Nicconi {Aus}), who has already struck at the 2018 Dubai International Racing Carnival for David Hayes and Sheikh Hamdan, and the Bjorn Baker-trained Music Magnate (NZ) (Written Tycoon {Aus})—among the field of 14 for the six-furlong contest on the Meydan turf. A winner down the straight six at Flemington in the G2 Tab.com.au S. in 2016, Illustrious Lad will be well suited to Saturday's test, according to the assistant trainer.

He says, “He's a straight track winner and that's very important. We felt that he has a Group 1 win in him and we felt that this race could be a little bit of a softer option. We've got five or six sprinters back home that would dominate this race. Australia is renowned for its sprinting brigade. We've always been in the number one seat. So we took the view that a strong Australian Group 2 horse should have a good chance here, and we just thought that the timing was perfect for all of us really—for the horse, the stable. It was time to take a bit of a dip into the water. The stable has had a lot of success over the last five to ten years and this is the right horse at the right time to give it a go.”

The Gelagotis brothers grew up playing soccer, ultimately competing in the Australian National League, and Manny credits his late father Michael for the siblings' transition into the contrasting sporting discipline of horseracing.

“Peter and I like to watch and observe,” he says. “We're sports people of old, we both played football at a high level, so we've come from a different background. Our late father trained and was a passionate horseman so we sort of fell into it a little bit. Here we are today, self-taught, we've never worked for anyone else, but we've learned our trade as we've gone along, and here we are taking on some of the world's best trainers.”

As we speak in the rising heat of a Meydan morning, over Manny's left shoulder is Bob Baffert with the favourite for the Dubai World Cup for the second year running in West Coast (Flatter), while off to the right is the respected French veteran Alain de Royer Dupre, who will be bidding for an unprecedented third consecutive World Cup meeting victory with the Aga Khan's quirky but talented stayer Vazirabad (Fr) (Manduro {Ger}). This is indeed illustrious company in which the Gelagotis camp now finds itself but neither brother is fazed by the competition. In fact, there's an air of confidence emanating from the former Gippsland Falcons player.

Manny says, “It's exciting. In everyone's career you tick boxes—you win Group races, you have success back home and then you challenge yourself to travel abroad. Peter is the leading trainer in our region and has been for a long time. This trip is one we haven't done before. While we've travelled a lot in Australia we haven't been here but now we have it will be on our list of priorities for the future. It brings us all together and we can meet everyone and share information. That's one thing we've been very appreciative of, meeting all these high-class trainers from around the world, which we slot into now nicely.”

It's not just the training duo and two of horse's owners—Chris George and Anthony Panozzo—who find themselves in the international arena for the first time. Illustrious Lad's jockey Anthony Darmanin is more likely to be found at a country track than a metropolitan meeting back at home, but he is a trusted lieutenant as a work rider at Lloyd Williams's Macedon Lodge training establishment and has the full backing of the team with which he is travelling.

“Anthony Darmanin has had a lot of success for us and has won three or four Group races,” says Manny. “He gels with this horse. It's just one of those relationships—he knows the horse, the horse knows him and they trust each other. No matter where he goes he has a really good strike rate. I don't think another rider would ride this horse as well as he does. Anthony deserves this opportunity.”

Darmanin himself is relishing his international debut. He says, “It's very humbling to be here. I'm very appreciative of this great experience. I've never ridden overseas before but everything so far has gone really well and the horse has travelled really well. I'm now just really looking forward to riding him.”

He adds, “I'm happy enough with the draw [four]. I would perhaps have liked to draw outside a bit more, perhaps eight to ten, but it is what it is and I'm sure he's going to run a really good race. He's eating really well and when he worked Tuesday morning he gave me the best feel he's given me for a very long time.”

Illustrious Lad is apparently thriving away from home under the desert sun and is likely to fare best given plenty of room to run, according to Manny, who believes he is no backmarker in a competitive field.

“He's an interesting character. He's the sort of horse who needs his space,” he says. “When he gets clustered up in fields he doesn't have the confidence but he's a very talented high-class sprinter on his day. We're here to win, and we believe the horse, on what he's done so far, and particularly on the back of his gallop yesterday [Tuesday], has a great chance. That was winning work.”